West Ham United Blog | Analysis & News
News, Results, Transfers, Gossip
West Ham United continued their abysmal away form in The Premier League at the weekend, being turned over 1-0 by new boys Hull City.
The game was settled in the 12th minute when Robbie Brady went down like a sack of potatoes in the box when jumping for a header he was never winning, to the shock of everyone in the stadium the pathetic referee gave the Prima Ballerina a penalty which he dispatched past Jaaskelainen. [Read more…]
Hull City boss Steve Bruce has defended the swan diving antics of Robbie Brady that handed his team the win on a silver platter.
Brady went tumbling to the floor like a sack of spuds after a “soft” challenge in the box by West Ham’s Joey O’Brien. [Read more…]
Ex Hammer and free agent Carlton Cole is apparently in Turkey trying to ply his trade with Besiktas. The 29 year old has even had talks with Beckham’s old team LA Galaxy for a move there.
Now, it looks like mighty Hull City are wanting a piece of Cole after a possible deal for Charlie Austin fell through because of a dodgy knee. [Read more…]
The Hammers did what they had to do yesterday but it wasn’t enough to seal the number two spot for automatic promotion. Saints had a field day yesterday as they bulldozed Coventry City in style to seal the second place promotion spot.
All credit to Saints as they snatch the second place. That leaves the Hammers in the play-offs to snatch the third place and go back to the Premier League. It wasn’t what big Sam and the Hammers had in mind but hey, it’s been a long season and we’ve let a few good points go adrift and we can only blame ourselves for being in the play-offs instead of topping the league or coming home second!
The lads played well yesterday,too. With some classy stuff from Carlton Cole, the hammers looked like Premiership material!
Manager Sam Allardyce was stunned it was only 1-0 at the break.This is what he had to say:
“We completely annihilated Hull City in the first half. I was amazed at half time it was only 1-0 to us it should have been like the Brighton score. But we didn’t convert our chances even though we had the opportunity to do so.”
On Carlton Cole grabbing his brace, big Sam had this to say:
“We deservedly doubled our lead just after half time with an outstanding goal from Carlton Cole. He got two goals, which is very important going into the Play-Offs as our front men will need to contribute in a very big way during the Play-Offs.
It went down to the wire and the Hammers still had a chance of pipping Saints to the coveted number 2 automatic promotion spot. It wasn’t to be however, because Saints pulled off a great escape against Coventry and completely knocked them for six. It didn’t really matter then that the Hammers had won as Southampton already did the damage. You could see the fans faces yesterday at Upton Park as people got wind of what was happening at Southampton. The agony was apparent and West Ham just had to make sure of this game against Hull – no more slip ups please! The lads pulled through and it was thanks to Carlton Cole.
West Ham were always the better side and there was some nice football coming from both Carlton Cole and Vaz Té. West Ham seemed to have drawn a line under previous erratic performances which ended in draws. They looked good and the fans knew it although it got a little scary five minutes from time when Richard Garcia’s diving header, was ruled out for offside!
A word of hope for the Iron’s fans: in four of the past six seasons, the team who finished third in the Championship has ended up winning the play-offs. Ok, we’ve got Cardiff on Thursday and we have to be prepared. The Hammers are up for it, are you?
West Ham won at Hull today 2-0 to keep up the good recent form and in particular the excellent away form.
Carlton Cole we the man behind both goals, nodding on for Bladock to bury a chance from close range, and then slipping Jack Collison through to dispatch his shot past the keeper.
“It is a difficult place to come and play,” the manager said, acknowledging that Hull had not lost at home since August and that he was so limited in options that promising 17-year-old defender Danny Potts – son of Steve – was on the bench.
“We know how good Hull are and we set out to see what they had to offer. We defended very well in the first half but apart from Julien Faubert’s three crosses down the side, which were very good and we didn’t get on the end of, I think we could have done a bit more in possession.
“We changed it around in the second half by bringing Carlton Cole on and dropping Kevin Nolan deeper into midfield. We wanted to get control and we said let’s go and score first, let’s go and attack Hull City from the very start.”
That second-half salvo, with the Hammers roared on by 2,500 travelling fans, was what finished off the home side’s hopes. “It allowed us to win the game. First the corner – a good ball, great header, great finish with Sam pulling off to score. The second goal was great passing and movement and resulted in a one-on-one and a very composed finish from Jack.
“We had won the game so we don’t need to go and chase it. We can sit and let the opposition have possession in front of us and see the game out. We broke when we got the opportunity.
“We didn’t do that as well as I would have liked but it was a fantastic result and a great performance in terms of how we changed tactically throughout the game. We were ruthlessly clinical when it came to our good period. We nailed Hull and come away with a well-earned 2-0 victory.”
Good to see another very professional away performance, it’s certainly something I am not used to seeing from The Hammers, before if we went past Watford it was like we were jinxed not to get any points. This season has allowed us to rebuild with a new manager, new players and new outlook!
